| 100% | POCKETS | 7 | What the U's in this puzzle's solution represent |
| 67% | STRANDSOFADOUBLEHELIX | 21 | What the highlighted squares in this puzzle represent |
| 64% | NOTES | 5 | Staff members, and what the circled letters in this puzzle represent |
| 64% | LANDFORMS | 9 | Geographical features ... or what the circled squares in this puzzle represent |
| 64% | WORMHOLES | 9 | Theoretical shortcuts ... or what the four circles in this puzzle represent |
| 64% | FIVEPOINTEDSTAR | 15 | What can be drawn using the only V's, representing vertices, in this puzzle's grid |
| 60% | PRIVATELY | 9 | "Between us"... or the word hidden between U and S in this puzzle's theme entries |
| 59% | XANDY | 5 | With 30-Across, what most numbers in the clues of this year's puzzles represent |
| 59% | TIRE | 4 | Bad thing to blow ... or what each of the circled letters in this puzzle represents |
| 59% | MISSING | 7 | Like the letter O in this puzzle’s entire solution |
| 59% | SMILEYFACE | 10 | What's formed by the circled letters in this puzzle |
| 58% | FOUR | 4 | Minimum number of times each letter of the alphabet appears in this puzzle's solution |
| 58% | CANADIANPROVINCE | 16 | What each of the 10 abbreviations in this puzzle's answer stands for |
| 58% | PHYSICSFORMULAS | 15 | What the three sets of circled squares in this puzzle represent |
| 58% | YOGAPOSES | 9 | What the five formations of circled letters in this puzzle represent |
| 57% | PAVEDROAD | 9 | What the circled squares in this puzzle symbolize |
| 57% | PARALLELOGRAM | 13 | What's revealed by connecting the special squares in this puzzle in order |
| 57% | IPUTASPELLONYOU | 15 | Much-covered 1956 Screamin' Jay Hawkins song ... hinting at what happens three times in this puzzle's solution |
| 56% | STATESWONBYBARACKOBAMA | 22 | With 90-Across, what the 28 circled squares in this puzzle represent |
| 56% | SEPTEMBER | 9 | 1978 hit by the band represented in this puzzle's circles |
| 55% | TEAR | 4 | What the apostrophe represents in this emoticon :'-( |
| 55% | EXTREMEMEASURES | 15 | Radical solutions ... and what this puzzle's circles literally represent |
| 55% | FOSSIL | 6 | What each shaded square in this puzzle represents |
| 55% | GETCRACKING | 11 | Hop to it ... or what to do to the various eggs in this puzzle's shaded squares? |
| 55% | BACKPACK | 8 | Travel the world with one bag, and what can be found in this puzzle's circled letters? |
| 55% | FAIRYTALEENDING | 15 | What’s spelled out by the starts of six answers in this puzzle |
| 54% | CASTAVOTE | 9 | What many Americans will do on 17-Across (as hinted at by highlighting all the V's in this puzzle's answer) |
| 54% | LITTHEOLYMPICCAULDRON | 21 | What this puzzle’s featured athletes did in the years indicated |
| 54% | LONGWINDED | 10 | Verbose, and what the circled letters in this puzzle literally are? |
| 54% | SEEYOUINCOURT | 13 | What the circled letters in this answer represent, homophonically |